Clothes
by DirtyPinkTeaKettle
Summary: Skye steals Ward's hoodie when he's away on a mission. When he returns, he and Skye begin to grow closer. My summary sucks, just read it because SkyeWard!
1. His Hoodie

It started out pretty innocently. She was down in the lab with FitzSimmons and felt a bit cold. She noticed Ward's old S.H.I.E.L.D. hoodie hanging on the railing of the stairs. He must have tossed it there before training this morning and forgot it on the way to find out about the mission he'd had to go on with Coulson and May. _"I'll just toss it back in his bunk when I go up later"_ she thought. Skye leaned her face into the neckline of the faded black garment and inhaled the scent of Ward.

She was a little surprised that he smelled so good. Amazing, actually. She thought that as much as he trained, he would smell like sweaty man all the time. Instead, when she breathed in, she inhaled the scent of Bulgari body wash, a warm scent that must have just been Ward, and a hint of gunpowder, because it was Ward after all. She knew when she lifted her nose from the soft, worn fabric that she was addicted.

"Skye! Skye! Earth to hacker!" Fitz's voice broke through her Ward scent-addled mind.

"Yeah, Fitz? What do you need?" she asked, wondering how long he'd been calling her name.

"Nothing, really. I just thought you'd want to know that the rest of the team will be back in about 15 minutes. Apparently there are some minor injuries." He replied, trying to not let her know that he had seen the look of fear on her face when he had mentioned that the team had been injured.

"Ok. Thanks, Fitz. I'll be right back." She called as she started rushing up the spiral stairs.

She stripped off Ward's large, black hoodie, hurrying to his bunk. After entering his code, which he didn't know that she knew, she quietly slipped in the bunk. _"Really, Ward? 007?"_ she thought. Skye quickly hung the hoodie up and left Ward's bunk, making sure that she locked the door behind her. She then crossed the hall to her bunk to grab one of her own hoodies.

When she got back down to the lab, the bus's ramp was slowly starting to open. The SUV pulled in, with Coulson behind the wheel. Skye could see his left hand dripping blood down the steering wheel and his arm. May sat beside him, a black bruise darkening her cheek. Her right eye was almost swollen shut. Ward was in the back seat behind May, and Skye could only see his left shoulder from where she was standing.

As soon as the car stopped, Skye and FitzSimmons rushed to pull the doors open. Fitz hurried to Coulson, helping him out of the car and into the lab to take care of his hand. Simmons got May and Skye almost laughed at the exasperated smile on May's face as the biochemist fussed over her.

The laughter left Skye's body as soon as she opened Ward's door. He looked awful. A long cut just below his collarbone dripped blood down his chest. His right shoulder was clearly dislocated, and he had thin bruises around his neck and wrists. Skye put her hand on his arm, and he leaned into it, closing his eyes. They just sat like that for a minute.

Suddenly, his eyes shot open. Moving faster than Skye had ever seen him move, he leapt out of the car and drew his gun, pushing Skye behind him. Gunshots rang out, both from Ward and from the men walking up the open ramp of the bus. May came running from the lab, gun out and firing at the men.

Ward and May had already taken out four of the five men, and Ward was advancing on the fifth. Out of nowhere, a sixth man jumped up on the ramp and shot Ward. The bullet went through his already dislocated shoulder, grazed Skye's arm, and embedded itself in the glass in the lab wall. Ward's blood splattered across Skye.

She watched in horror as Ward dropped to the floor unconscious, shoulder dripping blood. The men advanced on Ward and Skye, just out of sight of May and the rest of the team. Their guns were pointed straight at Ward's unconscious form, and Skye knew that they were going to kill him if she didn't do something about it.

She saw Ward's gun laying less than a foot from her. She took a deep breath and just let her training take over. Skye lunged for the Glock 17 her S.O. had dropped when he went down, bring it up and firing as soon as it was in her hands. The men fell to the floor, dead. When Skye saw that they weren't getting up, she let out the breath she hadn't known she was holding.

"Simmons! We need you! Simmons!" she screamed, rushing to Ward's side and putting her hands on the bleeding hole in his shoulder. Simmons came rushing around the SUV.

"Oh my God! Fitz! Help me get Ward into the lab!" She called to her partner. Together, they got Ward into the lab and on the table. He didn't wake up for any of it, blood loss keeping him unconscious. Simmons cleaned out the gunshot wound, dabbing the blood off. Then she stitched it up.

"He needs blood! Fitz, what is his blood type?" She asked, running to the blood cooler.

"Um… he's O negative, Jemma!" Fitz yelled from the other side of the lab.

"Bloody hell! We had to use all of the O negative on that bloody agent we had to play extraction team for last week! We need to find the closest hospital or blood bank immediately!" Simmons said, slamming the cooler door closed.

"Jemma, that won't be necessary. I'm O negative too. I can donate some blood to him." Skye said, sliding off of the table she had been sitting on so that Fitz could bandage her arm.

"Fantastic. Get back up on the table and lay down. Fitz, get me two 16 gauge needles and one meter of IV tubing." Simmons said, before pushing a button on the table Ward was on, causing it to lower 2 feet. "We're going to have to do this the old fashioned way. He doesn't have time for me to take Skye's blood and then give it to him. It's going to have to be a direct line between them."

Simmons ran to one of the drawers, pulling out some small device. Fitz quickly handed her the things she needed. Simmons ran the IV tube through the device she had pulled from the drawer, before attaching two needles to the ends of the tube. She quickly slid one into Grant's arm. While she did that, Fitz tied a tourniquet around Skye's arm. Simmons turned to Skye, needle in hand.

"Ready, Skye?" she asked.

"Absolutely." Skye answered with complete certainty. Simmons carefully slid the needle in her arm. As soon as it was in, Fitz removed the tight tourniquet. They all watched as Skye's blood drained into Ward's arm. Slowly, color started coming back into his face and his breathing went from ragged and fast to a steady, even pace.

"Um… Simmons… not that I don't trust you or anything, but how will you know when you need to stop taking my blood?" Skye asked, nervously.

"Oh, don't worry, Skye! That's what this is for." She said, gesturing to the little device on the tube. "It will start beeping when you've given Ward one and a half pints, which is more than one would normally donate, but he needs it, and you'll be just fine giving it."

"Oh, ok." Skye said. She turned her head to once again look at Ward.

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_ The little machine on the tube startled Skye. Simmons came over with some bandages for Skye's arm. She removed the needle and wrapped the little hole snuggly.

"There you go, Skye. Fitz, can you get Skye some juice and a couple of cookies? She needs to get her sugar back up." Simmons asked, as she removed the needle from Ward's arm. She then pulled an IV bag of some clear liquid from one of the drawers lining the wall.

"What is that?" Skye asked from her spot on the table.

"It's a special mix of mine just for gunshot wounds. It's a mixture of electrolytes and sugars that he needs to replace what he lost when he was on the mission and when he was bleeding, and a mild pain reliever to take the edge off when he wakes up." Simmons answered as she hung up the bag and slid the needle into Ward's hand.

"Here's your juice and cookie, Skye." Fitz said, as he entered the lab. He pressed the bottle of orange juice and the chocolate chip cookie into her hands.

"Thanks, Fitz. So, now what do we do?" She asked, sitting up.

Simmons watched her carefully as she slid from the table and onto a tall chair beside Ward. Simmons bent down and pushed the button to raise the table. Skye latched on to Ward's hand as soon as it was at its full height. _"Come on, Ward. Wake up."_ She thought.

FitzSimmons watched their friend cling to Ward's hand. "Now, Skye, now we just have to wait." Simmons answered.


	2. Her Hoodie

**Author Note: So on chapter 1, I forgot to mention that I own nothing. **

**Bellapaige88, I made them both O neg because it was important to me that she save him. **

**DrawnToDarkness, most of the time he's the one saving her. I wanted to reverse that and see how he dealt with it.**

The first thing Grant Ward was aware of was the light. He could tell it was bright without opening his eyes; the red-orange glow on the inside of his eyelids was enough. The rest of his senses quickly caught up with his sight. He knew he was lying on a not so soft bed. _"Not in my bunk then."_ He thought. He could smell some kind of strong disinfectant, like in a hospital or the lab on the bus. He heard the steady beat of what sounded like a heart monitor and the gentle hum of jet engines. _"So I'm in the lab then. Great…"_ Then, finally, the pain came. A strong burning, stinging pain in his shoulder, met with another stinging from below his collarbone. He moaned.

"Hey, Ward. You awake, finally?" he heard a voice say. He turned his head and opened his eyes. There she was. He should have known that if anyone was going to be there for him when he woke up, it would be her.

"Hey, Rookie. I'm awake now. What happened? I'm a little fuzzy on the details." He asked, looking to Skye for the story.

"Well, you guys got back to the bus. All of you were a little banged up from the mission, but it was nothing too terrible. While FitzSimmons were taking care of Coulson and May, I went to you. Then some bad guys came up onto the bus, you and May took out most of them, but one got you in the shoulder. It went all the way through, clipped my arm and hit the lab window. Coulson says it was probably armor-piercing, since it went through you, got me and still had the force to go almost through the lab wall. Oh, and Ikilledtwoguys." She said the last sentence quickly, as though she thought he wouldn't hear it if it was done quickly.

"What? Why? How? Where was the rest of the team?!" he asked, looking at her in horror.

"The rest of the team was either getting patched up or patching people up. They couldn't see us behind the SUV, and no one but me saw you go down. Those guys were coming up the ramp and you weren't getting up and they were going to kill you and your gun was right there and I just grabbed it and shot them and then they were dead and you were bleeding and you didn't wake up and- and –and…" Skye trailed off as tears sprang to her eyes.

"Hey, calm down. It's ok, Rookie. I'm right here and I'm going to be fine. You did what you had to do, and if you hadn't, then we probably wouldn't be having this conversation. I'd be dead and there is a pretty good chance that you would be too. Speaking of being ok, how is your arm? And what's with the bandage on the other one?" Ward questioned, noticing the bandage from the blood donation.

"Yeah, I'm good. It's just a graze. Fitz patched it up in no time. The other one isn't from the fight. Apparently, we share one special and rare trait. My blood type is O negative too. So, congratulations. You have just a little bit of me running through your veins." Skye answered, smirking.

Ward just looked at her for a minute, as if he was trying to cope with the thought of her saving him. It was odd to say the least. Ward was the protector. He was the one who shot people who were coming up on his team. He was the knight in shining armor, not the damsel in distress. To think that his Skye, his Rookie, had saved his life twice in the span of an hour was unbelievable. There was a time when he thought his girl wouldn't ever be able to save herself. _"Wait…__My__ Skye? __My__ Rookie? __My__ girl?"_ he thought, shaking his head a bit, as though he could shake the thought out of his head. It didn't matter if he wanted her to be his anything. Skye didn't feel that way about him, right?

Skye sat next to her wounded S.O. Grant looked like he was deep in thought and Skye knew that sometimes it took him a few minutes to process things like this. Grant was a smart guy when it came to tactics, training, and missions. But throw him into a situation with feelings and people who cared about him and it was like his brain just melted. But, her dear S.O., her Grant, who sometimes seemed to be two separate people depending on when you were talking to him, always figured it out in the end. _"__My__ Grant…I like the sound of that. Which doesn't matter, because I'm sure he wouldn't."_ she thought, looking at the big man on the table.

"Oh, I need to go get Simmons so she can check on you, and let the rest on the team know that you're awake. They didn't want to overwhelm you when you were first getting up, but they all want to see you." Skye said, suddenly remembering her promise to the team that she had made when kicking them all out earlier.

"Oh, ok. Um… You'll be back right? If you leave me alone with the science twins, I might have a meltdown." Grant laughed, as he watched Skye move to the door.

"Of course. Like I would leave my S.O. to the wolves like that. I'll be back as soon as everyone knows that you're awake." She answered, already halfway out the door.

It didn't take long for her to let everyone know that Grant was up and get back down to his side. Grant smiled as she walked back through the lab doors. Simmons was standing next to him, taking out the IV and unhooking Ward from the heart monitor.

"Hello, Skye. I should have known that you would be back down here." Simmons said as she finished unhooking all of the machines from Ward. "I was just finishing telling Agent Ward that he could leave the lab. And I might as well repeat these instructions to you, so you can make sure that he follows them. No strenuous activity on his right side for the next three weeks at least. And no missions for a while. Agent Ward just needs to rest and take it easy for a while as he heals. So, Skye, this would be the perfect time for you to beat him at Battleship and force him to watch a bunch of Disney movies."

Skye smiled a mischievous little smile. "Hear that, Ward? You are so doomed." Grant just gave her a half-hearted glare that said he probably didn't mind being doomed. He slid off the table, stumbling a little when his feet hit the ground. Skye rushed to support him, sliding under his good arm. Grant looked down at her for a minute before reluctantly putting some of his weight on her.

"Oh, Skye! What do you want to do with this?" Simmons asked, holding up Skye's bloodstained white hoodie.

"Ugh. That blood will never come out. I just want it gone." Skye answered, taking the garment from Simmons. Ward smiled down at her.

I have an idea. Come on, Rookie. You'll love this." He said, before unsteadily leading her to the spiral stairs.

**Author Note: Cliffhanger! What idea could Agent By-the-book Ward have? I guess you'll find out soon, huh?**


	3. Grant's Idea

Grant led Skye upstairs to his bunk. "Sit here. I'll be back in just a minute. Don't go anywhere." He ordered.

"Ok…" Skye said, plopping down on his bed, watching as he rushed out of the room, taking the blood stained hoodie with him. She looked around the bunk. Unlike FitzSimmons, whose bunks were packed with personal things, Grant didn't have much in his bunk. Skye examined the shelves, which were packed with books. Everything from The Hunger Games (_Ha! I knew he'd read it!_) to Matterhorn to War and Peace. But what caught Skye's eye was a huge, leather binder. _"A photo album? The Robot has a photo album?"_ Skye thought, reaching out to touch the spine. She wanted to pull it off the shelf and flip through it, but she knew how much Grant valued his privacy. _"I'll just ask about it later."_ She decided. She sat back down on the bed to wait for her S.O.

While Skye was exploring, Grant was slowly making his way to the cockpit. He knocked on the door and waited until he heard May give permission before he opened it. The pilot turned to look at Ward with her usual blank face.

"Good to see you up and walking. What do you need?" she asked, still staring him down.

He held up Skye's destroyed hoodie. "Skye needs this gone. And I was thinking…" he leaned over and whispered his idea into May's ear. When he was finished, the pilot's blank expression was gone. She looked up at him with a smirk and a mischievous glint in her eye.

"You want me to misuse government property to get rid of a jacket?" she asked.

"Yeah, pretty much." He answered.

May sighed. "Put it in the interrogation room. You have 2 minutes to get it there and get to your bunk to watch it go with Skye."

Grant smiled. "Thanks, May!" He hurried to get the hoodie into the interrogation room.

When Grant got back to his bunk, he found Skye lounging against his head board with his laptop in her lap. "Hey, Skye, watch out the window." He said. The little hacker jumped at the sound of his voice.

She turned to him and smiled. "Hey, Robot. What am I watching for?" She asked.

"Just watch." He said, sitting down on the bed with her. Skye watched out the window intently. Grant couldn't take his eyes off of her. "Ok, Rookie. Pay attention to the engine now. Ready?" he asked. Skye nodded, eyes widening. "Five, four, three, two…one!" Grant's countdown was timed perfectly. As soon as he said one, a red and white shape came floating past the window, standing out against the darkening sky. Skye watched in awe as the engine flared brightly, incinerating the bloody hoodie right before their eyes.

"Oh my God! That was so cool! How did you get May to do that?!" Skye asked, turning to Grant excitedly.

"I just asked her. I think May was probably a lot more relaxed when she was younger. She had this mischievous look on her face like she really used to be a lot of fun." Grant answered, as he watched his Rookie bounce up and down. He put his hand on her shoulder, trying to keep her still. "Calm down, Skye. You lost quite a bit of blood today. Though, to be honest, I'm kind of glad you did." He said, looking down at her big, brown, doe-eyes.

"I had to. I need- I mean the team needs you." She told him, a little smile on her face.

"I'm glad. You know, I was never scared of dying. Until I joined this team, that is. In fact, I used to think about it a lot. I always wondered if I would be shot or stabbed or blown up by terrorists. But when I realized today that I wasn't going to be able to dodge that bullet, I was scared out of my mind. Because if I died, who was going to protect you guys? May and Coulson are good, but May hates it and Coulson is…well, he's Coulson. And I tried so hard to stay conscious, because I knew you were still behind me, and I knew they were coming. You should never have had to take those shots, Skye. People like me take those shots so that people like you won't ever have to." He said, looking away from her.

Skye put her hand on his face, turning his head so that he was facing her again. "People like you? Oh Grant…" The use of his first name made him look at her again. "Grant, I am just like you. We both had awful childhoods; we're both too stubborn for our own good. The only real difference is that when you escaped that childhood, you went to S.H.I.E.L.D. and when I escaped, I went with a stupid guy and fell in with the Rising Tide. If I had started in S.H.I.E.L.D., I would be you. I didn't have to take those shots today. I could have ran or screamed for May. I took those shots because my team needed me to, because you needed me to. And I'm ok with that. It came down to them or us, and I decided that I like us a hell of a lot better. Don't blame yourself for anything. It was going to happen eventually." She told him, still cupping his face in her hands. "Now that that's settled, do you want to watch a movie or something; because there is no way that I can sleep yet." She asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Oh… um, sure. Why don't you go grab one, put on some pajamas, and then come back here so we can watch it?" He suggested, giving her a tired little half-smile.

"Alright. Just promise to be awake when I get back here." She laughed, getting up and heading to her bunk.

While she was gone, Grant changed out of his bloody cargo pants from the mission, pulling on a pair of soft grey sweatpants. Then he tried to get his ripped up and blood-soaked shirt off. It was a lot harder than he thought it would be, with his shoulder screaming every time he moved it. That's how Skye found him when she returned from changing.

"Having some issues there, Robot?" she laughed, watching her S.O. frantically trying to untangle himself from the shirt.

"Just get the scissors out of my top drawer and get this damn shirt off of me!" He growled.

"Ok, ok. Just sit still. You're beat up enough; I don't want to cut you." She said, retrieving the scissors and cutting the thin black material.

"Finally!" He exclaimed when the shirt dropped off. Skye just looked at him. His body was incredible, even when he looked like he had been hit by a bus.

"Oh my God, Grant. What happened to you?" She asked, tracing her fingers lightly over a black bruise over his ribs. Then she let her hand trail to a thin scar over his hip bone.

"The bruise is from a baseball bat today, when a few of those guys from earlier had me hanging from the ceiling. After they choked me until I was out. It wasn't a good day. The scars everywhere… Well, remind me one day in the near future to tell you every single story. But for now, turn on the movie and get in bed." He said, sliding under the covers, still alluringly bare-chested.

Skye did as he asked. "_Who wouldn't get in a bed with a half-naked Agent Grant Ward? Answer: Absolutely no one could resist."_ She thought. When she got under the covers with him, he dropped his hand to her hip.

_"God, I always forget how little she is. I could snap her in half without any Berserker rage to help." _He thought, as his hand made contact with the sharp point of her hip bone.

They watched the movie in comfortable silence for a while. Then Grant noticed Skye shivering. "Are you cold, Rookie?" He asked, looking down at her, concerned.

"I'm freezing! Which is crazy. It's not cold on the bus. I'm never cold here." She answered, drawing closer to his warm body.

"You're finally coming down off of your adrenaline rush. Here, let me grab you something to keep you warm until you fall asleep." He said, reaching over here to the little wardrobe that held his clothes. He yanked on the sleeve of something that Skye couldn't see because his big arm was in her way.

"Sit up, Rookie, and put this on. I don't want you to freeze to death." He laughed, handing her his faded S.H.I.E.L.D. hoodie. The very same one that she had worn earlier.

"Thanks, S.O." She smiled, slipping the soft fabric over her tank top. Grant laid back down, patting the bed beside her. Skye gave him a huge smile, before snuggling back down beside him. "In the morning, will you tell me about your scars?" she asked, yawning.

"Absolutely, Rookie. Though it might take a while." He told her, pulling her closer to him.

"That's ok. We have a while." She mumbled, resting her head on his chest. "G'night, Grant." She said, as her eyes slipped closed.

"Good night, Skye." He said, pulling her as close as he could without causing himself too much pain. And with her pressed close to his chest, Grant Ward drifted to sleep. 


	4. Scars

The sun hit Grant's face suddenly, the bus smoothly changing directions. He froze when he realized someone was in his bed with him. He quickly relaxed when he opened his eyes and saw Skye sound asleep with her head on his chest. He glanced at the clock. _"8:45! I should have been up hours ago!"_ He started to slowly inch away from Skye, trying not to wake her up.

"Where do you think you're going, Agent Ward?" Skye's sleepy voice came creeping from his side.

"I was just going to go take a shower and then get some breakfast. Why don't you sleep a little more, and I'll bring you breakfast? Last night you looked like you hadn't slept at all when Coulson, May, and I were gone." He said, easing out of bed. Skye watched him through one, half-opened eye. He winced as he stretched.

"I looked like I hadn't slept because I hadn't. I couldn't. I know that I'm not an agent yet, but FitzSimmons aren't good in combat. With all of you gone, I didn't want to let my guard down and have someone get on this bus. So, I didn't sleep much." She replied, looking up at him sheepishly.

"Two days without sleep?! Rookie, that was not your best plan. Now you don't get an option. Go back to sleep. I'll make you breakfast." He said, leaning down and pushing her flat again.

"Pancakes?" she asked, looking up at him hopefully.

"Anything for you, Rook. Now go back to sleep. I'll be back in about an hour." He laughed, grabbing a fresh pair of sweats and boxers, before grabbing a shirt out of his wardrobe. He left the bunk, glancing back at Skye as he closed the door. Skye rolled over onto his pillow, breathing in his scent and falling asleep again.

Grant made his way to the shower. Once he was in the bathroom, he locked the door and stripped off the pants he had slept in. Grant turned to the mirror. The wounds from this mission would just add to the scars that riddled his body. There were scars up and down his torso, on his back, all over his arms, and strewn along his legs. _"Skye will never want me once she sees all of this…"_ he thought sadly. That's what had happened before, with Camille. She hadn't known that he worked for S.H.E.I.L.D.; she had just thought that he was NYPD S. . He had been undercover when he met her, and he had thought that they had something special. But after four months, Camille had decided that she was ready to take the next step and sleep with him. As soon as she had seen him without his clothes, body covered with scars, she had changed her mind and left him, saying that his job was obviously too dangerous, and she didn't want to get serious with a guy that wouldn't come home one day. Camille had left him with a very different kind of scar.

Sighing, Grant got in the shower, turning the water up as hot as he could stand. After standing there long enough for his skin to turn red, he washed his hair and got out. He tried to raise his arm up above his head, but pain still shot through his shoulder. He pulled on his clothes, barely managing to get his shirt on. Then, he made his way to the kitchen to make pancakes for him and Skye.

Half an hour and thirty pancakes later, Grant finally made it back to his bunk. "Skye… wake up, Skye. I have pancakes." He said, poking at the sleeping hacker.

"Yummy. Gimme." She said, sitting up quickly.

Grant handed her the pancakes, which she happily started eating. "Were you even asleep?" He questioned, sitting down beside her with his own plate.

"I couldn't get comfy. I guess I was really looking forward to pancakes." She laughed, as she finished off her pancakes. "Those were so good. Where did you learn to make them?" she asked, sitting her plate on the table by the bed.

"Gramsy taught me. She always said a man should be able to cook at least three meals." He answered, stacking his plate on top of hers.

"Will you tell me about your scars now?" Skye asked gently, looking at him.

Grant froze for a few seconds. "Umm… yeah, I guess. Let me just take these plates to the kitchen first." He said, grabbing the plates and hurrying out of the room. Skye watched him go, worried that she had upset him.

Grant returned quickly, and sat down next to Skye. She could tell he was tense. "Hey, relax. I'm not going to stab you, Grant." She said, reaching over to rub his arm. He flinched, and she pulled back.

"I'm sorry. I've just never done this. A few years ago, I dated a woman, and she ran screaming when she saw all of these scars…" He told her, head bowed.

"Grant, I would never. I know you. I know a little bit about your life, about what you've been through. And we live on a plane. Where could I possibly run to?" she smiled, rubbing his arm.

"Ok. Where do you want to start?" He asked.

"Well, um… I guess, take off your shirt." She answered.

Grant carefully stripped off his shirt, leaning back against the headboard. He closed his eyes, not wanting to see the look of pity, judgment, and disgust that he was sure would be on Skye's face.

"Oh, wow…" Skye breathed.

"I know. It's awful. I'll put my shirt back on. I'm sorry you had to see this." Grant said, lurching up and grabbing for his shirt.

Skye's hand on his arm made him pause. "Awful? Grant, you're beautiful. I'm trying to get over the fact that I can see every single one of your muscles, and damn, are they amazing. And these scars," she said, reaching out to brush her hand over a circular scar, "they aren't ugly. They say that you're a survivor. That you fight for what you believe in, and that you obviously win. And that is absolutely beautiful. Now, tell me the story behind this one." She poked a thin scar running over the ridge of his collarbone.

"Knife fight with another S.H.I.E.L.D. cadet at the general academy. This scar came from the fight that gave the Director the idea to send me to Ops with Agent Natasha Romanoff as my first S.O. Later, when she went back into the field with Agent Barton, Agent Garrett took over." He answered.

"Ok, how many of these came from the academy?" She questioned. He pointed out a few small ones, mostly knife wounds.

"Ok, tell me about this one." She ran her hand over a scar by his hipbone, right above the waistband of his pants.

"Got shot about a year ago. I almost didn't walk away from that one. It was pretty bad. I lost three pints of blood, had massive internal bleeding, and was in a coma for a week because of the blood loss." He told her. Skye shifted, knocking a pillow off of the bed. Grant went to grab it, leaning over. That's when she saw them. Twenty or thirty long, thin stripes running across his back, long healed.

"Oh my God, Grant." She breathed, softly touching one of the scars. Grant shuddered.

"Bullwhip. Courtesy of my big brother when I was ten. He- he hung me from my arms in this old barn back in the woods behind our house. He found the old whip wrapped in an oil cloth in the loft. He ripped my shirt and pants off and just started hitting me. Over and over and over. I passed out and came to at least three times while he did it. All up and down my back, the backs of my legs. That was what finally got my parents to call the police and send him away. I had to stay in the hospital for two weeks. The doctors were worried about infection; the police were worried that it might have been my parents, and not my brother. I didn't care. I was tired of laying on my stomach and I really just wanted to go home." He said, voice cracking.

Skye put her arms around him and hugged him to her as tight as she could. He put his arms around her, pulling her even closer. She could feel the tremors racking his body. "I think that's more than enough from you for today. Want to see a few of mine?" She questioned.

"You have scars?" He asked, looking at her.

"Yeah." She answered. She stripped off her shirt, revealing a black sports bra. Grant saw the stab wound before she pointed to it. "My sixth foster father. He stabbed me when I refused to have sex with him. I was thirteen."

Grant couldn't take the look of pain on her face. "Hey, Skye?" He said.

"What?" She asked, looking up to see a mischievous smile on his face.

"I have your shirt. And you're going to have to catch me to get it back." With that, he lunged off the bed, her shirt clutched tightly in his hand. He shot out of the bunk, with her a step behind. She chased him around the bus, and finally had him cornered by the lab when a voice resounded from the balcony.

"Agent Ward! What is going on?!" Coulson yelled, looking at the younger agents below.

"Oh, um, nothing, sir. We're just messing around." He said, quickly handing Skye her shirt back.

"You should be resting. Now go. Back to your bunk." Coulson ordered.

"Yes, sir." Grant said, trudging up the stairs.

Skye followed him, giggling softly.

"What's so funny?" Grant questioned.

"I was just thinking. If you wanted me to leave my shirt off, you could have just asked." She smiled up at him, following him to his bunk. Grant just chuckled and let her follow. He liked spending time with his rookie, and he hoped she felt the same way.


End file.
